Thanks for the input, all. I decided to write a quick and easy Web-based file manager using my database to store the comments, as suggested. Thanks! Floyd On Feb 25, 2010, at 11:52 AM, Ashley Sheridan wrote: > On Thu, 2010-02-25 at 15:34 +0000, Richard Quadling wrote: >> >> On 25 February 2010 15:16, Richard Quadling <rquadling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> > On 25 February 2010 14:59, Floyd Resler <fresler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> >> One of my users has asked if I can display comments with a file list on their site. So I thought I might be able to use the comments from the properties of the file. Is there any way I can access this from PHP? The files are actually stored on a Linux box. >> >> >> >> Thanks! >> >> Floyd >> >> Using LADS on a file I just added a title and summary to ... >> >> LADS - Freeware version 4.10 >> (C) Copyright 1998-2007 Frank Heyne Software (http://www.heysoft.de) >> This program lists files with alternate data streams (ADS) >> Use LADS on your own risk! >> >> Scanning directory D:\Personal >> Files\Downloads\Software\Programming\PHP\Browscap\ >> >> size ADS in file >> ---------- --------------------------------- >> 88 D:\Personal >> Files\Downloads\Software\Programming\PHP\Browscap\php_browscap.ini:♣DocumentSummaryInformation >> 204 D:\Personal >> Files\Downloads\Software\Programming\PHP\Browscap\php_browscap.ini:♣SummaryInformation >> 0 D:\Personal >> Files\Downloads\Software\Programming\PHP\Browscap\php_browscap.ini:{4c8cc155-6c1e-11d1-8e41-00c04fb9386d} >> >> 292 bytes in 3 ADS listed >> >> >> The funny looking symbol can is character #5 which can be entered as >> ^E. So, ... >> >> more < php_browscap.ini:^ESummaryInformation > lad.log >> >> The file lad.log now contains the content of the SummaryInformation >> alternative data stream. >> >> The format of the content of the streams I don't know, sorry. >> >> >> -- >> ----- >> Richard Quadling >> "Standing on the shoulders of some very clever giants!" >> EE : http://www.experts-exchange.com/M_248814.html >> EE4Free : http://www.experts-exchange.com/becomeAnExpert.jsp >> Zend Certified Engineer : http://zend.com/zce.php?c=ZEND002498&r=213474731 >> ZOPA : http://uk.zopa.com/member/RQuadling >> > > If the files exist on a Linux server, then you're out of luck, because as Richard said, this information is kept in the alternate data streams, which is part of the NTFS filesystem (and I don't know anyone crazy enough to install Linux onto an NTFS formatted partition!) > > What you could do is store the filenames in a database, and use a second table for the comments, attributing them to a file. This would lend itself well for web-based use, but will cause problems if you move the files (as the database would lose track of them) > > Some file formats are built to allow extra data though. For example, images have EXIF data, for which there are ways to read (and write afaik) within PHP. Most audio formats have this, and I would assume video formats too. You'll probably find most file formats have something available for this, but the deployment will vary from file type to file type. > > Thanks, > Ash > http://www.ashleysheridan.co.uk > >
